Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly

This morning.

Meanwhile….

A new colour-coded response is being considered by the National Public Health Emergency team as part of Ireland’s Covid-19 pandemic plan.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said NHPET has spent a considerable amount of time looking at how Ireland can move to a sustainable long-term plan and the colour-coded system is different to the original roadmap, or phases, outlined by the previous government

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Minister Donnelly said the phases were about providing time frames, but the codes are a warning system on where “we are at on any given day.”

He said he believes the measures introduced for Laois, Kildare and Offaly are very nuanced and it is possible that such measures will be introduced in other areas in the future.

NPHET considers colour-coded response to replace phases (RTÉ)

Rollingnews

Update:

Um.

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74 thoughts on “True Colours

  1. GiggidyGoo

    Stephen likes the use of colours.

    Purple – Social Democrats
    Blue – Blueshirts
    Yellow – FF

  2. :-Joe

    Oh well, since f-f/g and ask me-botty “Joker” martin are running things… with an unqualified non-health professional as minister for the health system…

    Goodbye to all in the three counties of Kildare, Laois, Offaly…

    You will be sadly missed… but we won’t forget you !
    – Build a tunnel or an Airport landing strip and we’ll come visit you some day!

    :-J

    1. Janet, dreams of big guns

      Do you think anyone will respect this second time around ? I’m betting a lot less co-operation

      1. :-Joe

        IDK?.. It’s all crazy. 2020 is the year of the crazy… All around us.

        The chinese will replace the 2020 symbol for “born in the year of the x” with a picture of a screw and a ball together…

        Kids in the future, living underground in abandoned nuclear bunkers eating insects will say in mandarin/hanyu… “I was born in the year of the magical screw-ball”

        I only know that I’m betting on drumpf to win 362 electoral college votes, with a +/- 5-10 margin of error.

        :-J

      2. AKA Frilly Keane

        +V Janie

        People rowed in behind the Acting Government to give them and our Health Service a chance to manage the surge

        And looking at the state of us now, six months plus in,
        especially the dithering over reopening schools, the LC results, managing creches/ childcare, the clusters appearing in meat plants and the discrimination & neglect of workers,
        Not to mention the abject, and imo criminal, failure of managing our Nursing & Care Homes in a timely and honest manner, meanwhile keeping our airports open, and attempting to trap lads who were laid off by a State ordered shut down

        Here we are now with our Government expecting face coverings to do the job

        While PUP is getting cut, the likes of Billionaire Barons and Private Health Moguls are getting richer

        Whatever trust the majority had in the last Government and the Acting Government evaporated by June
        And they have even less trust in this new Government

        Leo is already out and about campaigning
        While our Taoiseach’s party are being mangled, and dropping poll points by the day

        The Paddys have had enough – we’ve stood by them long enough, and tis worse it’s getting.

        My hunch is, if MMartin survives to October, they’ll (FG) put through a murderous budget and then close the door on this Government.

        1. :-Joe

          Inclined to agree but since when were “The paddys” ever satisfied with this shower in the last 100 years…
          -Unless by “Paddy’s” you mean their 50% of voters and falling.. loyal eejit supporters.

          Maybe now they’ll let anyone that can make up a non- F-f/g party take the reigns…
          -Just kidding, disaster (pseudo)capitalism is the best corrupt game going. The whole world over.

          :-J

        2. Janet, dreams of big guns

          I’d love to think people had had enough but there seems to be a real lack of willingness to critique or question authority in this country as if by doing so you are putting down Ireland or somehow don’t love your country, sure aren’t we all a great bunch of lads…
          I have had that thrown at me on this site and occasionally by a family member who works for the state as if somehow wanting better, questioning and being angry at mismanagement is somehow showing a lack of love for your country,
          well au contraire, people should be galvanized to change a system that shows such meprise for its people, tries to cover scandals like tuam and the cervical cancer, people should be more passionate about wanting a government that reflects what I believe are real Irish values, community, kindness, generosity.

          1. :-Joe

            Well said, bring back the community centre town hall meeting idea somehow.

            People need to spend one less hour or two a week/month watching shy-t3 on braindeadflix or sports or boozing etc. and get involved..

            It wouldn’t take much for a large group to turn it around for the better… but you got to keep at it..

            It’s simple but it’s a lifelong commitment to behaviour change..

            :-J

          2. AKA Frilly Keane

            + V to everything Janie said

            And I would add that it is up to each individual to be the change
            By either organising
            And or putting themselves up to be a representative

            Golden opportunity last year in the LEs
            A hundred yo-yos and a few Signitures would put you on the ballot

            The only way the main parties will listen is when you threaten their votes
            And put yourself in a position to publicly question them and their policies
            Also the only way to make State Officials and Senior Public Servants act is to get yourself in front of them and or make a show of them

            Town hall meetings should be the way to go
            Easily done and easily organised
            However – just from my experience, it’s very hard to get TDs etc to pay attention unless it’s a mainstream host

            During the GE campaign I invited every candidate (13) on the DSC Ballot to our AGM – the biggest Independent Community CU in the Constituency,
            None turned up, and the only apology rendered in advance was from the Social Democrat Tara Deecy

            When it comes down to it, in party politics particularly, and at all levels, it’s dog eat dog.

  3. frank

    The HSE should be inspecting where the employees of these meat processing facilities live.
    Of course the bloody workplace is going to be in order.
    They are poorly paid eastern europeans or Brazilians living in massive house shares with others doing food delivery and couriering drugs.
    If Donnelly, O’Brien et al focused themselves on dealing with creating legislation to halt modern tenements they’d do some good.
    The likelihood of that – zero.
    Nothing will be done to upset the modern slave trade of meat barons and landlords

    1. :-Joe

      Stop will ye, enough of your common sense…

      What sort of banana republic would we be then?….

      BTW – Fyfes is guilty of workers rights abuses and a front owned by a Japanese corporate conglomerate. Allegedly.. etc,
      – Just thought I’d throw that in there with the other banana reference…

      :-J

      1. frank

        allegedly the owner of the pork processing facility in Waterford is also a huge donor to Fine Gael. A family owned business unlimited so no returns to view and receive millions in government grants. Other members of the family have property portfolios and would be better classed as slumlords.

        A 3 bed house subsequently converted into a 5/6 bed house can accommodate 20 Brazilians.
        Each paying €400 a week = €32,000 a month
        That’s nice money and all above board. Happy days.

        1. Cian

          Hyperbole much?
          What is a “huge doner” – there is a maximum of €6,350 to any party.

          Any evidence for your 3-bed house conversion to a 6 bed property; charging 20 people €1,200 per month to share 4-to-a-room.

          1. frank

            491 Collins Avenue Dub 9
            3 bed house converted to 7 bed house. 20 plus Brazilians living in the house.
            128 Shantalla road, Beaumont
            3 bed house converted to 6 bed house. 20 plus Brazilians living in the house.
            I have other address if you want to go on a tour of them.

            I live up there Cian and while we can all see what’s going on is nothing can be done.
            That’s not hyperbole that’s reality.

            Donor not huge donor. Is that to your liking?

          2. Janet, dreams of big guns

            I have lived beside a two bedroom house with 16 Brazilians living it it and all paying through the teeth for the pleasure, it’s real Cian

          3. :-Joe

            Du bist… oops..

            You’re wasting your time folks, Cian is like Dorothy on the yellow brick road..

            High as a kite but not on cocaine, on some kind of f-f/g dream fantasy reality..

            Sadly he may be lost to us, until he gets that plumb job in the ministers office as junior something or other and then suddenly…
            ..he pulls back the curtain on his illusions for the big reveal in the head office of f-f/g party hq…

            No, No, It isn’t true, It can’t be. Tell me it isn’t True…
            SAY IT AINT SO, PADDY!!!
            – NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

            :-J

          4. Cian

            I’m not saying people don’t shove a load of people into one house.

            It is the alleged €1,200 per person to share a room with 3 others in a house with 20 people.

            If I can rent a 1 bedroom , 1 bathroom apartment for €1,369 (https://www.rent.ie/houses-to-let/Apartment-6-The-Maieston-Santry-Dublin-9-North-Dublin-City/2059124/) or a three bed for €2,325 why would a Brazillain spend 1,200 to share with 20 others?

            He may be spending €400 a month to share with 20 others. But frank’s “€32,000 a month” is pure rubbish.

          5. diddy

            because you need to be “chosen” from a q of many to rent a flat. it’s easier and expedient to move into a slum

          6. Dove

            @frank: Not sure your first example is correct (officially at least):
            http://www.dublincity.ie/swiftlg/apas/run/WPHAPPDETAIL.DisplayUrl?theApnID=0426/15&theTabNo=2&backURL=%3Ca%20href=wphappcriteria.display?paSearchKey=4862617%3ESearch%20Criteria%3C/a%3E%20%3E%20%3Ca%20href=%27wphappsearchres.displayResultsURL?ResultID=5640222%26StartIndex=1%26SortOrder=APNID:DESC%26DispResultsAs=WPHAPPSEARCHRES%26BackURL=%3Ca%20href=wphappcriteria.display?paSearchKey=4862617%3ESearch%20Criteria%3C/a%3E%27%3ESearch%20Results%3C/a%3E#

          7. frank

            Put your head in the sand Cian. This is happening and €32,000 a month is not rubbish it is real and happening across the road from me.
            Here’s the room rates:
            https://leevinireland.com/rooms/

            have a look at the unregulated language schools while your at it Cian or don’t as is your want.

          8. Cian

            @frank;
            your link (which is for short-term renting) shows a 4-bed room for €160… which works out at 12,800/month (a tidy sum) but a long, long way from 32,000…

          9. frank

            pssst Cian they were short term lets before the pandemic and now they’re stuffed with Brazilian ‘language students’.
            You’re just counting the bedrooms. Now tot up the downstairs rooms.

            I’ve given you all you need here Cian and still you want to split hairs. The likes of you facilitate this rubbish and you should be ashamed of yourself and they way you treat others

          10. Cian

            @frank;
            I’m not counting bedrooms. *you* said 20 Brazilians in a 5/6 bed house each paying €400;
            I’m saying the €400 is hyperbole.

            *you* provided a link that suggests that €160/€170 is the rate for sharing a 4/3 bed room.

            Unless you can provide evidence for €400/week to share with 2 others I’m not convinced.

            And suddenly this is *my* fault? For pointing out your exaggeration?

        2. :-Joe

          Indeed. A nice half hour’s work if you’re a scumbag involved in exploitation and greed…

          I wonder what it’s like to live in a real democracy?…
          – Or even a country with a healthy government?..

          :-J

          1. :-Joe

            You again.. You just can’t get enough with more of your dull efforts that are boring at best.

            Maduro, as bad as he may be and obviously incomprehensible to your level of capability in nuanced and complex understanding of the issue, is actually doing more for the people of Venezuela than the unelected self-appointed corrupt elitist Guido.
            – a.k.a the puppet traitor, installed by ‘murican coup for the neo-liberal economic disaster capitalist system.

            Maduro, taking a stand against ‘murican corrupt foreign policy(again, not up for debate) is doing a lot more than Guido would ever do if given the half the chance.

            No credible journalist or academic with any minimal understanding of the reality of Venezuela is even debating this anymore. It’s a fact. The burden of proof is on you and eejit’s like you to prove the facts wrong. Good luck with that.

            The moment you understand these facts, if ever at all.. you’ll get a strange warm fuzzy feeling in your head…
            – It’s otherwise known as a rare brief moment of enlightenment from a slight growth in knowledge, understanding towards wisdom.

            You’ll have to discard your “It’s ok to kill the poor, vunerable and unfortunate”, F-f/g mentality first though for it to happen but you might prove me wrong on that for once.

            Again, wasting my time trying desperately begging to get me to cure your cognative biases.. Go and learn about it yourself or talk to a health professional..

            Ye, clumsy deluded eejit…

            :-J

        3. frank

          how is it not correct Dove?
          The link you gave is for a 4 bed extension to a 3 bed house???
          = 7 beds

    2. SOQ

      Totally- all the need is to map the business and residential eir codes and draw a 1 km buffer around them all- then have the guards mark it out. Division by country is not ‘nuanced’- it makes so proximal sense.

      ESRI who are the main Geographical Information Systems specialists in Ireland are already proposing such- well at least the map bit.

      1. Cian

        It might be sensible, but not practical.

        Most people know which county their house is in and the media have been good at telling us which counties are in lockdown. There is little excuse that “I didn’t know I was in lockdown”.

        Could you imagine the chaos of getting people to read a (constantly changing) map to see if they are on it or not? Now if we lived in a police-state (like some people seem to think we do) and everyone had to register their home address + phone number; then the ESRI could produce a list of eircodes in the “buffer zone” and they could actively text/call all residents to tell them they are in the zone (and then a second call once the zone is closed). But we don’t.

        1. SOQ

          It would only change if a new cluster of infections were identified but that could happen to counties too. And, you really are relying on public cooperation no matter how the space is drawn.

          I get the point about county borders been easily identifiable and are already known but the other side of that coin is that people who are nowhere near the infection sites are being inconvenienced too- it is a very blunt tool.

          The GIS solution could easily identify all roads into the quarantine zone and would require a lot less gardai personnel as the physical area would be so much smaller. I just think it is a smarter way of working myself.

          1. Cian

            I agree it would be smarter.
            I agree that it is technically possible.
            I agree the current county-lockdown is a blunt tool.

            I believe the zone will need to change as “infected” houses are added/removed; Each time there is a positive test you need to add that property and extend the zone – then do contact tracing to see who else might be infected… which will add more properties….

            I just don’t think it is feasible to implement/enforce it because people won’t know if they are in/out of the buffer zone. Unless the state can actively contact all those inside the zone I don’t think it is doable (and the SI needed to put this into legislation would be, um, interesting) .

          2. SOQ

            We are working on the basis of clusters so the home eir codes should be known by the employer. It depends on how far the employees live from the infected plant but if as others suggest, it is mainly immigrants living in shared accommodation, then then numbers should not be that large.

            The geographical area should cover residences of all employees btw- not just those who test positive- that way there would be no change to that particular quarantine zone.

            As for the enforcement- it is only those living in the zone as nobody else will want to go near it. People will cooperate if it is a reasonable request- which means in relatively close proximity.

          3. Cian

            @SOQ;
            My understanding is that the HSE will do contact tracing on all the positive cases – and test their friends, family, people they meet (sports?). And from this there may be positives outside the direct employees of the meat plants.
            I could be wrong.

          4. SOQ

            Sure but that is in addition to the lock down- the problem is the county area is too big and not consistent in it’s radius from the cluster.

          1. SOQ

            Well something to tell you you were approaching a quarantine zone could be done very easily- it’s just an alert based on the GPS coordinates. Probably could be done using Google maps API as the accuracy is not that important.

          2. Cian

            LOL

            The same people that complained about the COVID app (just on Android needing location services switched on to work – but the app itself didn’t know your location) are now begging for another government app that will actually need to track you location?

            It’s farcical at this stage. Yiz are just anti-government.

          3. SOQ

            Give it a rest- nobody is begging for anything- the alert system could just as easily be by text based on mask triangulation.

            The objective is to reduce the quarantine space to a reasonable size rather than this OTT county stuff.

          4. Johnny Green

            do you have any tech background Cian?
            ….WSJ this am-Hill summary/cheat sheet non paywall.
            “The data that was taken from the Android phones is a 12-digit code called a “media access control” (MAC) address, according to the Journal. Each MAC address is unique and are standard in all internet-ready electronic devices. MAC addresses are useful for apps that are trying to drive targeted adds because they can’t be changed or reset, allowing tech companies to create consumer profiles based off of the content that users view.

            Under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, MAC addresses are considered by the Federal Trade Commission to be personally identifiable information.”

            https://thehill.com/policy/technology/511619-tiktok-collected-data-from-mobile-devices-to-track-android-users-report

            -how’s that Irish headquarters looking:)

          5. Johnny Green

            ..so no background in tech Cian,the ability to overuse search and puke it back up here,hardly qualifies you!

          6. Johnny Green

            this is….

            “My understanding is that the HSE will do contact tracing on all the positive cases – and test their friends, family, people they meet (sports?). And from this there may be positives outside the direct employees of the meat plants.
            I could be wrong.”

            you are.

          7. Cian

            @Johnny;
            nope. I still have no clue as to the relevance of MAC addresses (as captured by tickok) has to this thread about an app. You are now quoting stuff from another thread in this post about contact tracing… but again I fail to see the relevance.

            Perhaps you are too stoned to think clearly (or I am not stoned enough).

  4. Broadbag

    Glynn said the complete opposite in the last day or two, that it was a blunt instrument, Donnelly failing to pay attention in class.

  5. f_lawless

    The obvious comparison is the colour-coded terror alert system that was used in the US to heighten public fear levels in the lead up to the war in Iraq. The neocons knew from history that those type of psychological warfare tactics leave a public incapable of making an objective assessment of risk and therefore consent is much easier to manufacture. But why is our government behaving increasingly like an authoritarian fascist state? This is not a healthy liberal democracy.

    1. SOQ

      +1

      The objective is to keep the fear going for as long a possible because once people realise the full extent of the damage done by this madness- there will be hell to play.

      Remember that these are only positive test results not serious illness- they have stopped issuing ICU numbers it appears. That the over all fatality numbers this year are down on the previous three is a pretty good indication that this thing has been blown out of all proportion.

      1. Janet, dreams of big guns

        there won’t be hell to pay though, you’ll get shouted down for being unpatriotic or excitable because you asked for a little lube

    2. AKA Frilly Keane

      Our crowd aren’t behaving as if they have any form of authority

      Everything since Leo called the election tells us they’re taking instructions from all-sorts of outsiders
      And by outsiders I mean outside the State
      And In-between International advices they resort to making it up as they go along
      The perfect example of us being left to our own devices and making a hames of it is the Leaving Cert

      Point is – there is Zero Leadership and Zero Independent Decision making

      We might be a Democratic Republic – on paper,
      but what we really are is a vacant franchise site for big business / globalised Politicans to have at their beck and call

      1. f_lawless

        I agree V. I suspect we’re getting swept along in some kind of global social engineering project. Have you heard of what global policymakers connected to the World Economic Forum are calling “The Great Reset”? On the surface, our leaders are coming to rescue us with their plans for a sustainable future and to protect us from future pandemics, but the alternative interpretation is that these elites are using the pandemic as an opportunity implement long-held plans for a global technocracy that suits their own self-interests.

        It’s been observed how China has used emerging technologies to pioneer of a method of ramped up surveillance and control over its population and apparently now the plan is to implement something similar in western-style democracies using the pandemic crisis as a pretext. Western elites would see it as a way keep the failing capitalist status quo afloat and for the western powers to keep pace with China who are on the rise.

        Not too long ago Tony Blair was interviewed on BBC advocating for the introduction of “digital health passports” as means for us to come out of lockdown, saying that he saw their introduction as “inevitable sooner or later”. In May, the ‘Tony Blair Institute for Global Change’ announced that “Our teams are now working with governments around the world, helping them to keep their people safe during this pandemic”.( Is it possible they’re also advising the Irish government on how to usher the public into this new biosecurity complex?)

        This is worth a read (it maybe from a libertarian professor’s perspective, but I’ve read similar interpretations of the so called “Great Reset” from journalists with different political persuasions)
        https://mises.org/wire/lockdowns-great-reset

        1. bisted

          …I don’t think it was the Chinese who hacked Angela Merkel’s phone…I don’t think it was China that Snowden exposed as being engaged in mass surveillance of their own citizens…years ago…

          1. bisted

            …the hypocracy…for years the west maintained that the only thing the Chinese were good at was stealing and copying their intellectual property…did the same will the Japanese before…all the time the West have been engaged in survellience of their own citizens…for decades…the difference?

          2. SOQ

            Bisted- are you actually equating the freedoms of the west with those sad unfortunates under the Chinese Communist Party rule?

      2. AKA Frilly Keane

        Ah now F_la
        I wouldn’t be the ‘wan for all that deep State espionage and hi tech surveillance stuff

        But what I do know is that the three Coveney Boys need careful watching
        Its no coincidence the jobs for those boys have
        Especially in combination
        When you talk about Global Reset n’ the likes

      1. Cian

        Next time there is a COVID cluster we’ll have Teresa Mannion telling us: “Don’t make unnecessary journeys”

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